Digital Marketing Agency Selection

What is a Digital Marketing Agency?

Ad agencies used to be the firms talked about most in the world of marketing. Think Mad Men! Today a new breed of marketer has emerged. The digital marketer. And sometimes these digital marketers work together in groups of 2, 3 and even 20, to form the Digital Marketing Agency.

Most digital marketing agencies offer services that include search engine marketing, social media marketing, email marketing and in some cases site building. In many larger digital marketing firms, just like in ad agencies, the actual production is contracted out to specialized contractors and other vendors. The agency approach is to serve as a strategic hub, to deliver results to their clients by aggregating individual services in a particular category of digital marketing.

What to look for in a Digital Marketing Agency?

Start by making sure you are comfortable with the basic value that the digital marketing agency offers. Usually this is price and service. So check their service list. Do they cover all the different area of digital marketing you want? Or are they missing something important, that you will have to find somewhere else? Look carefully at their pricing model, and engagement model. That is, how does the digital marketing agency bill you for services? Make sure fit your budget needs.

If you are building a website or looking for site management (webmaster services) definitely view the portfolio of the digital marketing agency. This is also important for search marketing, because if you can find out which domains a firm is promoting, you can check if they are doing a good job on those sites.

Finally think about the relationship that is forming between you and your representative at the digital marketing agency. Is your project manager, or account manager somebody you have confidence in? You want to feel good about the contact your working with most at a digital marketing agency. They are the person who will be instrumental in making  your digital marketing campaigns a success.

Testing a Digital Marketing Agency

A pilot project, or pilot campaign is a smart way to test out a digital marketing agency. In other words before you commit the big dollars, give them a little job to do and gauge their performance. If they do well, give them a little more of your budget to work with. Most digital marketing agencies are willing to take on pilot projects, some even offer discounts for new clients to try their services. Generally avoid the agencies that demand huge retainers and large contract commitments upfront. You want to be sure you have the right digital marketing agency to work with, so testing out multiple agencies can help you make that determination.